April 2021
Salt Lake City, Utah
by Marianne Adams
As most ballet companies around the world are slowly getting back to what once was normal, Ballet West has clocked in not one, but two live seasons since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic. How they did it and what lies ahead were among the topics I was excited to explore in my conversation with Adam Sklute, the company’s Artistic Director.
Let’s start with the elephant in the room – the challenging times we are living through, and the company’s body and soul – its dancers. How is their morale and are they excited to be back on stage?
That is still quite a bit of time away from the studio. How did you manage in the interim? Were you doing what a lot of other companies were doing – linoleums in the homes, video classes from the kitchen, and so on?
I’ve read you commenting that some things actually improved as a result of this at-home work, such as footwork, and so it sounds like the time away was almost a clinic for that type of work.
Clearly it worked, you were able to get back and remarkably have a season in November, and you are one of the first troupes around the world to do that in front of a live audience. What were some of your biggest hurdles for that fall season and the biggest lessons you learned from it?
The fall program itself was reworked as a contem- porary program. We had our resident choreo- grapher Nicolo Fonte create work for the performance, as well as Jennifer Archibald, and we also performed Twyla Tharp’s “Nine Sinatra Songs.” For the rehearsals, we were able to mostly keep the work to same household couples, as the company has eight opposite sex couples and three same sex couples. But, of course, we were still living with the specter of the county closing down the performance venues, and things were getting quite bad in Utah in terms of illness at that time. Ultimately, we were able to have the season and fill the theater to 20%, and while it cost a lot to put that season on we were fortunate to receive both the government PPP grants and also state and city grants that helped keep us going as we performed in this unique manner.
Instead, what we ended up doing, and what I wanted to do after the modern fall season, was put together a lot of classical work to rebuild the company’s strength classically, and give the audience classical work which is the backbone of our repertoire. The result was a gala-style program with no intermission, running 90 minutes from start to finish. At first we started the rehearsal process with just household couples, but then we were approached with the ability to do rapid testing, started coordinating with the Utah Health Department and AGMA, and were approved for a process where all of our artists are rapid-tested and subsequently able to perform without masks. As a result, while many in the cast are still household couples because that’s how we started the rehearsal process, we are also able to cast non-household partnerships.
We haven’t worked with our orchestra since late last February. We did “Giselle” in Utah, took “Jewels” to Minneapolis the first weekend of March, and that was the last time we performed until the fall. For that season we could not put musicians in the orchestra pit because of social distancing, but we are excited to have been able to have two small ensembles and a soprano for two pieces for the spring.
The Blessings and Opportunities of Digital Mediums
I understand that for this program you did quite a bit of work remotely with stagers. How did that work?
Digital offerings are here to stay. That said, we are a live art form and I fully believe that we need to get back to the theater with a full house, and we will -- that’s how we will be presenting our art. But, in addition to that it would be good to continue to maintain a digital presence. For instance, among the grants, the company received a grant for digital work, and we were able to hire a production company that stayed with us and filmed us in the studios even with reduced numbers and other aspects, chronicling our return to the stage. The result is a 9-part digital docu-series, with each episode 10-15 minutes long, which details our return to rehearsals and the stage, and it will be coming out to the public in May. We would want to continue that in some capacity as it was quite wonderful. It really turned into more of a dance and arts-focused version of “Breaking Pointe” [DVT note: The reality TV series about Ballet West which aired on the CW Network in 2012-2013.] This was less a reality show, but still very much a behind the scenes look. We are also discussing other content that would be unique to a digital platform and something we’d be able to add to our subscription series.
You have also offered the “Nutcracker” this past season in a broadcasted medium. How did that come to be and how was it received?
The Company Aesthetic and Moving Forward
I do have to ask about the company’s aesthetic and style. I must admit, the first time I saw Ballet West dancers I was amazed at the tall, statuesque bodies, beautiful clean lines, and really remarkable feet. Do you seek out these kinds of dancers, and generally how do you select the performers?
So would you say individuality is more of a key?
These steps toward individuality extend to issues of diversity. Please tell me about that.
One of the things last year has done was show how old school classical ballet can be re-thought, including with issues of race. I have worked really hard to build up the diversity of my dancers [DVT note: the company features a diverse roster of dancers and just this season promoted two dancers of color to the rank of Principal -- Katlyn Addison and Hadriel Diniz], and along with that we just unveiled a new policy for tights and shoes. All of the women no longer wear pink tights and shoes, and instead wear flesh colors that match their skin tone. I will admit, it’s been a bit of a battle, and at first I thought it might be strange to see some ballets, like “Paquita,” like this. But testing this with only 20% occupancy and experimenting with skin tone matching we saw that this really could look wonderful and bring out individuality.
I do think you’re one of the pioneering company in the U.S. in those aspects. And it makes sense that the casting and the ballets are representative of the country’s population.
U.S. is a very diverse country, and it’s an aesthetic I celebrate. Just like I celebrate tall dancers and long lines, I celebrate people of different ethnicities, I find it beautiful to bring them together. Of course, in the context of inclusion there are so many odd calls for dismantling classical dance, calling it too elitist. And it is a bit of an elite form – you have to have an ability to do it, like music, and sports and any art form or anything.
Everyone needs to be in the best physical condition they can be in the context of their physique, because that is what makes ballet an athletic and exciting art form. But it also can be for everyone, and what is important to me is to create a platform where everyone has the access to it if they have the talent, drive and hard work.
Assuming things with the pandemic keep normalizing, what would you like to see in the company’s future in the near term?
Right before this season we were scheduled to add an additional repertory program to our season, and that was huge for me because while I like full lengths and they are wonderful, repertory is so fascinating for artists, and myself and the audience, not just in terms of new works but also in terms of existing work from around the world that we could put on a mixed bill. That had to go the way of all things, of course. As we look at next year we felt it wasn’t time yet to embark on that, as finances are even tighter for next year than this year. The wonderful generosity of grants was able to sustain us this year, but there will definitely be difficulties ahead in getting us back to where we were. As we work toward that, next year we will be doing a lot of full-length ballets, we are planning and hoping to be able to work as we normally do, and as we work on new digital projects we are also looking at different ways to expand our presence and keep the art form relevant.
"To read the review of the company's spring season, click here [https://www.danceviewtimes.com/2021/04/back-on-stage-if-cautiously-relentlessly.html]
All Photos © Beau Pearson
Top: Photo of Adam Sklute.
Bottom: Joshua Shutking and Vinicius Lima in Lar Lubovitch’s Duet from “Concerto Six Twenty-Two,” during the company's spring 2021 season.